As a professional spectator and consummate event attendee, I look forward to numerous occasions on Windhoek’s cultural calendar.
The Namibian Annual Music Awards, as I continue to commune with the ancestors regarding its resurrection.
The one-time ‘night of the galleries’, an after-dark spree that sent us skittering through Windhoek’s streets in search of art, culture and room-temperature wine.
Then there’s Bastille Day, a garden party of fame and note held at the French ambassador’s house every 14 July.
While various events typically leave your mouth bone dry in between ‘The Odyssey’-length speeches and the wilting but appreciated sustenance, the French National Day flexes France’s art de vivre (art of living).
The speeches are short. The charcuterie is fresh, abundant and delicious. The champagne is from the region that gives the beverage its name, and one of the musicians on stage just happens to be France’s beatbox vice champion for 2023. Shout-out to Sami Lee.
If you’ve ever bagged an invitation to this event, you know the vibes are immaculate. Everyone is dressed to impress in their national or business attire and proceedings typically start with a note on Bastille Day.
Bastille Day marks the storming of the Bastille prison on 14 July 1789. The French ambassador explains it was a key event of the French Revolution which culminated in the end of the French monarchy, which was a stepping stone to France’s eventual democracy.
After a speech celebrating Namibia and France’s longstanding friendship and economic cooperation by the ambassador and a Namibian dignitary, the garden opens to a sprawling event of unparalleled hospitality.
Trays of macarons float by, held aloft by patient waiters fielding questions about whether they’re sweet or, controversially, filled with some kind of pâté.
French apple tarte tatin and vanilla eclairs delight while the French cheese, cold meats and quiche go down a treat. Eventually, champagne flutes in hand, everyone descends on the crêpe station where the light pancakes are drizzled in chocolate with a flourish of gold leaf.
As conversations about the dish’s pronunciation ensue with “crap”, “crayp” and “crep” as the frontrunners, the music begins to heat up from the terrace.
French rock and chanson trio The La Belle et la Bête is on stage, engaged in high-energy renditions of French and original songs mixed with hilarious asides and impressive bouts of beatboxing.
The French ambassador to Namibia, Cécile Vigneau, and her partner first encountered the band while she was stationed in Vietnam and invited them to Namibia for our listening pleasure.
La Belle et la Bête is singer and pianist Pocalipse, improviser and guitarist Étienne Rousseaux, and the 2023 beatbox vice champion of France, Sami Lee.
For a fleeting but fantastic moment, the lineup also includes Lize Ehlers, who joins the talented trio in a spontaneous freestyle replete with rap, beatboxing and a little French.
If you’re a Francophile in Namibia, it doesn’t get much better than this annual afternoon in the French ambassador’s garden. A celebration of France and Namibia’s enduring friendship, of democracy and the art that builds bridges between nations, the event also teased the 35th birthday of the Franco Namibian Cultural Centre’s (FNCC).
Amid these celebrations is something akin to the legendary ‘night of the galleries’ I was going on about at the beginning. On 30 July, the FNCC, the National Art Gallery of Namibia, The Project Room and the Namibian Arts Association will open their doors from 16h00 till late for ‘Moonlight at The Galleries’.
Patrons can walk between all four galleries, admission is free and the dress code is ‘canvas white’.
If this ‘first Thursdays’ (Cape Town) style event is anything like its predecessor, it’s not to be missed.
FNCC director Martin Beyer says the dress code is intentional, to honour the possibilities inherent in the blank canvas and so cars can see us crossing the street.
